Police net $10 million in fake US bills

Abu Dhabi: A plan to sell and promote $10 million in counterfeit American dollars was foiled by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), said police on Sunday.

Police said that the counterfeit money was found in possession of an alleged criminal gang and the seizure is the biggest so far this year.

Members of the gang are from African countries, police said.

CID officials first learnt of a Cameroonian cleaner, A.A. Oro, who was staying illegally in the country and of his plan to sell the fake money in exchange for Dh2.5 million.

The CID then set up an ambush to catch the suspect by pretending to be an interested buyer.

The so-called ‘client’ agreed to meet Oro in one of the capital’s hotels.

Here, the police apprehended the man who later confessed during questioning that he was only a middleman and that the money does not belong to him.

Instead, the suspect told authorities that the money’s owner is another Cameroonian whom the suspect met through a social media platform called ‘Tango’.

Oro had reportedly met the second man in another emirate where the money exchanged hands and Oro agreed to find a buyer in exchange for Dh900,000.

The CID identified the second offender and a third individual believed to be involved in the crime. The gang will be prosecuted.

In 2010, an operation entitled Black Storm was launched by CID resulting in the confiscation of Dh14 million.